Wire harnesses, which distribute electrical signals within an automobile, are generally nonstandard due to the varying range of options required for each automobile. For example, in Europe, there are several 17 different lighting configurations required (each country may require a unique configuration), each configuration being operated by the same controls. Separate harnessing is required for each different configuration to ensure that the controls operate the required light configuration.
Additionally, each option may require distribution of electrical signals and possibly, the feedback thereof, through different circuitry and different harnesses, thereby giving rise to nonstandard harnessing. For instance, harnesses, carrying signals requiring additional electrical elements to properly operated each option, are particularly difficult to standardize because the additional elements are hard wired into the harness making that harness relatively useless for other options. Even if wire harnesses were standardized, an automotive wiring system would require the flexibility to distribute control signals from and to those harnesses to accommodate required options.
The prior art has not provided the flexibility needed to allow wire harnesses to be standardized, generally showing a bus bar distributing signals by connecting two circuits. U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,927 to Kunkle et al., discloses wire harness connectors and a connector block with limited flexibility provided by a bus bar (38) appearing to connect two circuits. The bus bar does not provide for sufficient flexibility in the block to allow for the connection of discrete circuits corresponding to particular options. U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,371 to Hirokawa et al., discloses a simplified connection between circuits provided by a simplistic bus bar. Again, the device does not have the flexibility to allow for standardization with wire harnesses, merely, connecting single wires.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a multiconnector block between a junction block and wire harness connectors that allows for sufficient flexibility to accommodate vehicle motions and to allow for the standardization of wire harnesses.